Alex Garg writes...

"Although I don't know if they actually used the M.I.A. acronym as far back as WWII. I associate it with Vietnam. Does anyone else know?"

The farthest back I've seen militaries use "Missing," not necessarily "M.I.A.," on casualty lists is the Crimean War. I know the U.S. used "Missing" during the Civil War. Before then, armies had "Unclassified" casualties because it was nearly impossible to tell if someone was missing as a result of a battle, was mixed up with another unit or had gotten scared and ran from the battle.

But going back to your actual question, the acronym came about during WWI (or at least that's when the U.S. began keeping track of M.I.A. figures) and was very much used in WWII. The U.S. Department of Defense Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's mission of recovering M.I.A.'s begins with those missing from WWII.

Probably the reason why you associate the acronym with Vietnam is because the U.S. added the acronym M.I.A.P.D. - Missing in Action Presumed Dead - to its acronym-heavy lexicon either shortly before or during Vietnam, and because the government didn't want to keep reporting PD's to the media, they more readily reported those who were M.I.A. and might be found alive (of course, they might have been reporting PD's as well and just never informed the general public about the acronym's extension).

Sobering statistic time: Of the 217,000 U.S. soldiers reported M.I.A. from WWI through Vietnam, 42% remain unaccounted for; 88,000 of those still missing are from WWII-Vietnam.

Anyway, that's the best I can do with that - maybe someone else knows more. Thanks for the ramble, I hope you have more on the way.

Vitor writes...

In Future Tense, Xanatos kill Demona. A big mistake, because Macbeth was still alive. How do you explain this? Was the spell broken at that time?

Phoenician writes...

Dear Greg,
I remember in Awakening Part II when Xanatos asks Owen to bring in the construction crew to transport Castle Wyvern to Manhatten, and Owen replies saying that not only will the cost be "Astronomical," but not many are willing to do it because the locals say Castle Wyvern is Haunted. My question is are the hauntings Owen refers to created by the ghosts of Hakon and the Captain, since as far as I know they may have hovered there for over a thousand years (I think Hakon mentions that himself, but I won't promise to it). If this was asked at some Gathering I wouldn't know since I've never been to one. However I do plan on going to Montreal this coming year! (:

"drunk" writes...

On city of stone 1 when demona was casting the spell,was it on perpos that she used the "devel horns" hand gester?

Chaos9001 writes...

Hey greg

love the show(obviously) but i have a question, if Fang was cooped up with demona for at least five weeks by the day that it showed on screen demona changing form, why did he looked so shocked when she turned human?

Lawrence Matheson writes...

I noticed In the mirror that when Elisa turned away from the mirror her image stayed still was this part of the mirrors magic or just an animation mix up?

Vinnie writes...

What did the Gargoyles do to the Pack's helicopter after "Her Brother's Keeper? When I went through the archives the only thing that I could find was that it was not popular or something.

Ineyboy writes...

Greg, I absolutely love Gargoyles, almost more than any other cartoon, ever (I'm sure that's been said before, but every fan should say it). I have some ?s for you, but I would like to apologize first if they have been asked previously, as I have not got a chance to read all the FAQ's. I would appreciate it if you could email me (inianj02@yahoo.com) your response, when you get to it. If you prefer to only post them, then I understand. You could say that my ?s may not be directly related, but they are both concerning Goliath's confusion about something.

1) In the beginning of "City of Stone: Part One", who was the Weird Sister referring to when she told Goliath that when he "...forgets that every life is precious..." he is just like "her"? I believe Goliath points to the girl he calls a "terrorist", but the Weird Sister was referring to someone else...Who? (Right after Goliath says this, the 3 sisters disappear; not that you don't know that, but for quick reference)

2) I won't torture you with everyone else's ? in "Ill met by moonlight," but I would like to know something else: At the end of the episode, what favor was Titania referring to when she thanks Goliath for a "favor rendered"?

Todd Jensen writes...

In "Awakening Part Four", when Goliath and Demona are reunited and Demona claims that she was under the Magus's spell of sleep also for a thousand years, Xanatos mentions that he'd bought her and then, after seeing how transporting Castle Wyvern to the top of the Eyrie Building had freed Goliath and the other gargoyles from the Magus's spell, figured that if he brought Demona to the castle, that would break the Magus's spell on her.

Now, it occurred to me that that part obviously doesn't fit what we know about the Magus's spell, since all that was necessary to end it was for "the castle to rise above the clouds". In other words, once the castle was atop the Eyrie Building, all the gargoyles under the Magus's spell, including (in her story) Demona, would be freed from it, regardless of whether or not they were actually in the castle at the time. So it wouldn't be necessary to bring Demona to the castle to awaken her.

Of course, that doesn't matter, since we know that Xanatos and Demona's story was a lie anyway. But what I'd like to know is - was Xanatos's mention of bringing Demona to the castle in order to free her a deliberate (on the production team's part) discrepancy from the terms of the Magus's spell, as a hint to the audience that Xanatos and Demona were lying?

Billy Kerfoot writes...

Dear Greg,

I can't believe I'm talking to YOU!

1) Did you and the others really have to make the Future Tense illusion the way it was? It was horrifying the way you made that woman(Chavez' daughter y'all call her) weeping in devastated New York, made all the good guys except for Goliath and Elisa dead, and the most hardest of all which is Lexington turning into a villain you see in your nightmares! Lexington's my favorite character but this eposide shook me up quite a bit due to his change in person. I hope you don't let Lex become something like that. You won't right? Because if you do I'll be torn.

2) How exactly was Lexington going to rule the world?

3) What made Goliath realize this was all an illusion?

4) Is there a theme to Future Tense? If not did you and the guys just make it for the action?